Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-06-17
MAIDS OF HONOR.
Waiting on Her British Majesty is Any
timing But SInecuTe.
London Letter in New York Graphic.

London Letter in New York Graphic.
The maids of honor to the Queen earn
every penny of tie $500 year which is
their stipend for filling 4 very difficult
position. With the best Of intentions
and with the kindest heart in the world,
the Queen expects SO much from herself
in the way of physical toll, both for bust
ness and pleasure, that she may perhaps
be excused for sometimes forgetting that
the flesh, especially aristoCrstic flesh, is
weak. The maids of honor are on duty
for month at time, and at the end of a
month they are generally fit subjects for
6 course OF tome treatment. While on
duty they csnno. Gu! their souls
their own. After breaSfsst. which
they take in their own rooms, they
have 20 hold themselves IN instant
readiness 10 OBEY the Queens sum-
mons, which comes the moment Sir
Henry POnsonby quits Her Majesty's
presence, with the big red morocco dis
patch box, containing mis- days work,
under his arm. After a brief "G0Od
morning." the Queen suggests q little
reading, and the dutiful maid addresses
herself 10 the pile of papers, wherein the
proper passages for Her Majesty's hear
ing have already been marked by Sir
Henry. Through columns and columns
Of parliamentary debate, leading articles
nd correspondence has the poor lady to
intone her dismal way, often having to
repeat passages, for the Queen never
leaves a subject till she has thoroughly
mastered it, and is not at ali spsring in
her commands to "Just read that again,
please" The maid of honor is so busy
minding her stops and trying to modulate
her voice that she has little chance of uu-
Outstanding 1.-THE of what she is reading,
and yet the moment the reading is over
she has to rush of and get ready for q
drive with her royal mistress, during
which she will be expected to make lucid
remarks on the topics she has just read
aloud.
After luncheon is the only real time the
maids of honor have to themselves, and
even That g spoiled for them by the IN
certainty 81 10 whether they will be
wanted 10 walk or drive with the Queen
later IN the afternoon. They must stay
in their apartments, for, il by any cGaJce
they should be sent for and were not 20
be found at the moment, their life for a
day or two would not be happy one, so
that q stroll in the grounds on their own
account is out of the question till after
O'Clock, when, il the Queen has departed |
on drive without them, they know they
are free till at any rate. On the Queens |
return there is more reading aloud, this |
time of pOnderous works on heavy philo- /
sophi"al subjects, or else the arranging |
of sketches, photographs, or it may be |
the charity needlewerk is brought out TIL |
such time as her Majesty goes to dress |
for her O'Clock dinner, where to the re
lief of the maid of honor, she is not tx. !
pected to be present. b. this time she |
is not unfrequently faint for want of food, !
for when not at court she would naturally !
be finishing dinner at the hour when it is |
the Queens pleasure 10 commence it.
Young ladies do cot, as rule, Jump at |
the post of maid of honor to the Queen |
until they have given themselves fair
chance of obtaining an establishment"
It is not until season after season has
been drawn blank that disCOnsolate la
dies have recourse to the dignity, very
much minus the leisure, OF joining the
ifHousehold." 1t follows that, though
BY no means in the scar and yellow leaf,
the ma ority of the maids of honor are
not in the first blush of budding girlhood.
The present senior maid is the Hon. Har-
'iet Lepel Phipps, cousin of the Mar
JUS of Normandy. Miss Phipps will
never see her forty-ffth birthday again.
The Hon. Frances Drummond, daugh-
er Of Viscount Strathallan, is thirty-nine.
The Hon. Ethel Csdogan was born in
853, which puts TO ner credit thirty
hree summers, and the Hon. Maud Oke-
,ver, a niece of Lady Waterpark, by
whose influence she got the appointment,
s only tWentY-seVene ~